@Trickquestion  
or raise the price a bit to pay her friends to help out seeing as they are one of the reasons they had so much cider in the first place.

@Trickquestion  
Well, everypony except those who couldn’t afford it. They could raise prices a little to cover hiring some extra help.

Ciders gonna cide.

That’s why she’s best poni.

@Trickquestion  
Or, you know, actually become better farmers.  
 
Did you see the rate of spoilage? Blech! I certainly ain’ trustin’ no Apple Acres apples anymore!  
I bet there were twigs in it before the flimflam brothers even got there!  
Since they seemed to run out of cider just before the line ended (like literally 15-20 ponies worth) they only really needed one more barrel. TIME FOR AN EPISODE FOR LEARNING ABOUT NATURALLY BASED NON-LETHAL PESTICIDES! Finally Fluttershy has a damn use.
 
 
@Background Pony  
They should have a one year later where they’re using the sheep for farming as well as wool, and the sheep all kvetch about unionising and revolution.
 
 
@sargesprinkles  
If they apples weren’t such stupid hicks as to make a bet without a wager of their own in return, they could have made them put up their machine as collateral. Hell, got the most powerful unicorn in Equestria right there as their own personal battery, why not?

if the flim flams had offered a respectable and fair deal ( the farm getting the bigger share of the profit since they’re the supplier and cover most of the cost to production) the episode would have been over in 10 minutes with the moral of “don’t be afraid of trying a different method, it just might work”  
instead nothing got accomplished other than RD finishing the running gag.

This episode could use a one year later, “Magic Duel” style follow up, where the Apples learn either A: That sometimes in life you have to work with people you don’t neccessarily like (dosen’t share the tone of previous lessons, but would be the most realistic) or B: Basic economic theory, and solve literally everyone’s problems by just raising the price of the cider. Seriously, that is all it would take to solve the issue that created this episode. Just raise the price, which will lower demand for the cider until it equalizes with your supply. Everypony wins.

I thought there was a moral and that it was that hard work pays off, while cheap shortcuts can come back to bite you in the ass.
 
Applejack just happened to know about it all along.

It’s funny, because the moral had nothing to do with the episode.
 
Wait, not funny. The other thing. Infuriating.
 
Fuck you, hayseed.

@Trickquestion  
Yes they did, silly. Their problems were solved through the magic of unpaid labor!

I didn’t learn anything.

One Year Later
 
Ah horseapples, we never actually solved our problem!

you were right along as as far as whatever moral you were going for.  
in truth, there was no moral and the Celestia letter shoe horned in because it had to be there.